Mother’s quest for justice for daughters who died by suicide

Jacqueline Reilly was speaking in this week’s Sunday Independent to former Impartial Reporter journalist Rodney Edwards. Mrs. Reilly’s daughters Shauna and Michelle took their own lives within seven weeks of each other.

Shauna (23) died in December 2016 and her older sister Michelle (33) died in February 2017. Shortly after her daughters’ deaths, Mrs. Reilly found Shauna’s diary and phone and pieced together the traumatic events that had occurred before her death.

Extracts from diary

Extracts from Shauna’s diary published in the Sunday Independent demonstrate the turmoil the young woman was experiencing.

One line read: “Even when I think about it, when I go to speak, my head goes back there. I panic, I feel sick — it’s just an awful feeling. I guess that’s why it’s so hard for me to speak… just thinking about it.”

Mrs. Reilly said: “It was a mystery until I got to see her diary, until we could find out and piece together what was going on in her head and how tortured she was in that place,” she said.

Mrs. Reilly chose to speak out in the Sunday Independent almost six years after her daughters’ deaths because she has “exhausted all other avenues”.

She added: “I want to do what is right by Michelle and Shauna so that nobody else has to experience this.”

Shauna Reilly.

Mrs. Reilly alleges that Shauna was sexually assaulted by a man who had approached her after seeing her attend a local church that she did not normally attend. As well as finding Shauna’s diary, Mrs. Reilly also found her phone with many messages from the man.

One of the messages sent to Shauna from the man who allegedly assaulted her read: “Tell me about you putting your trust in the Lord, Shauna. Let me know if you would like to pray any time, Shauna.” Another read: “If you would like me to call after tea to have prayer, let me know.”

Following her daughters’ deaths, Mrs. Reilly is “totally heartbroken”, she said: “When Shauna died, part of Michelle died too. She held it together for the funeral, but then she fell apart. She said, ‘What do we do now?’ She could not live without Shauna.”

Michelle Reilly.

Shauna attended Enniskillen Police Station following her alleged assault and raised the case, the suspect of her alleged assault was arrested and questioned by the PSNI.

In a statement the PSNI said: “This case was robustly investigated by specialist rape crime unit detectives after initial accounts were taken by the first responding uniform officers,” it added.

“The suspect was arrested and questioned on a number of occasions. Physical evidence was recovered and a file was submitted to the PPS.”

The alleged suspect twice denied anything had happened and he then said consensual sex did take place.

Given the forensic evidence, the Reilly family strongly contends this version of events and question why the alleged suspect changed his stance.

Mrs. Reilly received a letter from the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) on April 23, 2018, following a meeting where she was told the case “could not proceed to trial.”

Unanswered questions

The letter from the PPS read: “In short, this is due to the inability of the defence to challenge Shauna on her evidence.”

The Reilly family believes that there are unanswered questions regarding Shauna’s alleged assault. Mrs. Reilly believes there are a number of circumstances that require further investigation, in particular the role of the PPS in not proceeding with a prosecution.

A PPS spokesperson said requests for a review of a decision not to prosecute would “normally only be considered if received within three months of the victim being informed of the decision.”

The PPS also confirmed that they had met with the Reilly family: “Given the importance of this case, the prosecution team met with the victim’s family in April 2018 to explain the reasons for the decision not to prosecute and address all questions raised,” a spokesperson said.

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this issue or are in crisis or distress and need to talk to someone, you can call free, 24/7, Lifeline at 0808 808 8000; The Samaritans at 116 123; or alternatively, e-mail jo@samaritans.org